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May 21, 2014 - Comments Off on What does Google’s Panda 4.0 update mean for your website?

What does Google’s Panda 4.0 update mean for your website?

Google are at it again! They have begun to roll out the latest algorithm update focussed on the quality of website content. This is, however, not to be confused with Penguin updates, which are focussed on the quality of backlinks to your website.

How can this affect you?

If you have a large number of pages on your site with ‘thin’ content i.e. a small amount of content or a website with a lot of advertising, Panda 4.0 may affect you more than most. Google are continuously looking to provide users with the most relevant and useful search results, and in order to do this they look to ensure the websites that rank in Google have good quality content.

One example of a site which appears to have been affected by this latest update of Google’s Panda algorithm, as reported by Moz, is eBay. Since the update, eBay seems to have lost search visibility for a number of keywords. You can see the full report here.

What can you do?

You should always be looking to add relevant and useful content to your website where appropriate. It’s also important to pay attention to the template of your content. How much content is visible higher up the page? Often this is referred to as ‘above the fold’; however, with different devices and responsive websites, this is no longer a meaningful term… but that’s for another post.

The most important thing to remember is to provide your users with unique, well written content that meets their needs. As long as this content isn’t buried and is easily accessible on your website, this should stand you in good stead.

If you have any questions or would like any further advice please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can contact us at [email protected] or on 0113 887 8200.